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‘A swallow who loved him very much. 


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copyright 1908, 1909 by 

The Holiday Publishing Company 

NEW YORK 
All rights reserved 

Published, September, 1909 





OCT -5 I9l'6^^ 



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^att Une 

T he Land of the Blue Flower was 
not called by that name until the 
tall, strong, beautiful King Amor came 
down from his castle on the mountain 
crag and began to reign. Before that 
time it was called King Mordreth’s 
Land, and as the first King Mor- 
dreth had been a fierce and cruel 
king this seemed a gloomy name. 

A few weeks before Amor was born, 
his weak, selfish boy-father — whose 
name was King Mordreth also — had 
been killed while hunting, and his fair 
mother with the clear eyes died when 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

he was but a few hours old. But 
early in that day she sent for her ven- 
erable friend and teacher, who was 
said to be the oldest and wisest man 
in the world, and who long ago had 
fled to a cave in the mountains, that 
he might see no more of the famine and 
disorder and hatred in the country 
spread out on the plains below. 

He was a marvelous old man, al- 
most a giant in size, and having great 
blue eyes like deep sea-water. They, 
too, were clear eyes like the fair Queen’s 
— they seemed to see all things and to 
hold in their depths no single thought 
which was not fine and great. The 
people were a little afraid of him when 
they saw him go striding majestic- 
ally through their streets. They had 
no name for him but The Ancient One. 









THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

but if he is with you he will learn what 
Kings should know.” 

The Ancient One took the child, 
folded him in his long gray robe and 
strode majestically through the palace 
gates, through the ugly city and out 
over the plains to the mountain. When 
he began to climb its steep sides the 
sun was setting and casting a golden 
rose color over the big rocks and the 
wild flowers and bushes which grew 
on every side, so that there seemed no 
path to be found. But the Ancient 
One knew his way anywhere in the 
world without a path to guide him. 
He climbed and climbed, and little 
King Amor slept soundly in the folds 
of his gray robe. He reached the sum- 
mit at last and pushing his way through 
a jungle of twisted vines starred all 



“He climbed and little King Amor slept soundly.” 








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THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


over with pale sweet-scented buds, he 
stood looking at the castle which was 
set on the very topmost crag, and 
looked out over the mountain’s edge 
at the sea and the sky and the spread- 
ing plains below. 

The sky was dark blue now and lit by 
a myriad stars, and all was so still that 
the world seemed thousands of miles 
away, and ugliness and squalor and 
people who quarreled seemed things 
which were not true. A sweet cool 
wind blew about them as the Ancient 
One took King Amor from the folds 
of his gray robe and laid him on the 
carpet of scented moss. 

‘‘The stars are very near,” he said. 
“Waken, young King, and see how 
near they are and know they are your 
brothers. Your brother the wind is 


7 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


bringing to you the breath of your 
brothers the trees. You are at home.’^ 

Then King Amor opened his eyes, 
and when he saw the stars in the dark 
blueness above him he smiled, and 
though he was not yet a whole day old 
he threw up his small hand and it 
touched his forehead. 

“Like a King and ar soldier he 
salutes them,’’ said the Ancient One; 
“though he does not know he did it.” 


The castle was huge and splendid 
though it had been deserted for a hun- 
dred years. For three generations the 
royal owners had not cared to look out 
on the world from high places. They 
knew nothing of the wind and the trees 
and the stars; they lived on the plains 
in their cities, and hunted and rioted 



THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


and levied heavy taxes on their wretched 
people. And the castle had lived 
through its summers and winters alone. 
It had battlements and towers which 
stood out clear against the sky, and 
there was a great banquet hall and 
chambers for hundreds of guests, and 
rooms for a thousand men at arms, 
and the courtyard was big enough to 
hold a tournament in. 

In the midst of its space and splendor 
the little King Amor lived alone but 
for the companionship of the Ancient 
One and a servant as old as himself. 
But they knew a secret which had kept 
them young in spite of the years they 
had passed through. They knew that 
they were the brothers of all things in 
the world, and that the man who never 
knows an angered or evil thought can 


9 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

never know a foe. They were strong 
and straight and wise, and the wildest 
creature stopped to give them greeting 
as it passed, and they understood its 
language when it spoke. Because they 
held no dark thoughts in their minds 
they knew no fear, and because they 
knew no fear the wild creatures knew 
none and the speech of each was clear 
to the other. 

Each morning they went out on the 
battlements at dawn to see the splendid 
sun rise slowly out of the purple sea. 
One of the very first things the child 
King Amor remembered in his life — 
and he remembered it always — was a 
dawning day when the Ancient One 
wakened him gently, and folding him 
in his long gray robe carried him up 
the winding and narrow stone stairway, 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

flush crept over land and water and 
all the small floating clouds were rosy 
pink. King Amor smiled because birds’ 
voices were to be heard in the trees and 
bushes, and something golden bright 
was rising out of the edge of the ocean, 
and sparkling light danced on the 
waves. It rose higher and higher and 
grew so dazzling and wonderful that he 
threw out his little hand with a shout 
of joy. The next moment he started 
back because there rose near him a 
loud whirr and beating of powerful 
wings as a great bird flew out of a crag 
near by and soared high into the radi- 
ant morning heavens. 

“It is the eagle who is our neighbor,” 
said the Ancient One. “He has awa- 
kened and gone to give his greeting to 
the sun.” 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

And as the little King sat upright, 
enraptured, he saw that from the daz- 
zling brightness at the edge of the 
world there leaped forth a ball of liv- 
ing gold and fire, and even he knew 
that the sun had risen. 

‘‘At every day’s dawn it leaps forth 
like that,” said the Ancient One. “Let 
us watch together and I will tell you 
stories of it.” 

So they sat by the battlement and the 
stories were told. They were stories of 
the small grains lying hid in the dark 
earth waiting for the golden heat of the 
sun to draw them forth into life until 
they covered the tilled fields with wav- 
ing wheat to make bread for the world ; 
they were stories of the seeds of fair 
flowers warmed and ripened until they 
burst into scented blossoms; they were 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

stories of the roots of trees and the rich 
sap drawn upward by the heat until 
great branches and thick leafage waved 
in the summer air; they were stories 
of men, women, and children walking 
with light step and glad because of the 
gold of the sun. 

“Every day it warms, every day it 
draws, every day it ripens and gives 
life. And there are many who forget 
the wonder of it. Lift your head high 
as you walk, young King, and often 
look upward. Never forget the sun.’’ 

At every dawning they rose and saw 
together the wonder of the day; and the 
first time the sky was heavy with gray 
clouds and the sun did not leap upward 
from behind the edge of the world the 
Ancient One said another thing. 

“The burning gold is behind the 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

lowering gray and purple. The clouds 
are heavy with soft rain. When they 
break they will drop it in showers or 
splendid storms and the thirsty earth 
will drink it up. The grains will drink 
it and the seed and the roots, and the 
world will be joyous and rich with 
fresh life ; the springs will bubble up 
like crystal, and the brooks will rush 
babbling through the green of the 
forest. The drinking places for the 
cattle will be full and clear and men and 
women will feel rested and cool. Lift 
your head high when you walk, young 
King, and often look upward. Never 
forget the clouds.” 

So hearing these things every day 
King Amor learned the meaning of both 
sun and cloud and loved and felt him- 
self brother to both. 





THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

The first time he remembered seeing 
a storm the Ancient One took him to 
the battlements again, and together they 
watched the dark clouds pour down 
their floods while their purple was riven 
by the dazzling lances of the lightning; 
and the thunder rolled and crashed and 
seemed to rend asunder things no hu- 
man eye could see ; and the wind roared 
round the castle on the mountain crag 
and beat against its towers, and tossed 
the branches of the hugest trees, and 
whirled the rain in sheets over the 
land, — and King Amor stood erect 
and strong like some little soldier, 
though he wondered where the small 
birds were and if the eagle were in his 
nest. 

Through all the tumult the Ancient 
One stood still. He looked taller than 






'4:i¥ 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

ever in his long gray robe, and his 
strange eyes were deep as the sea. 

At last he said in a slow, calm voice: 
“This is the voice of the power men 
know not. No man has yet quite 
understood — though it seems to speak. 
Harken to it. Let your soul stand 
silent. Listen, young King. Hold your 
head high as you walk and often look 
upward. Never forget the storm.’’ 

So the King learned to love the storm 
and be one with it, knowing no fear. 

But perhaps — it might be because 
he had been laid on the scented moss 
and had without knowing it saluted 
them on the first night of his life — he 
felt nearest to, and loved most, his 
brothers the stars. 

Every fair night through the King’s 
earliest years the Ancient One carried 

17 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


him to the battlements and let him fall 
asleep beneath the shining myriads. 
But first he would walk about bearing 
him in his arms, or sit with him in 
the splendid silence, sometimes relating 
wonders to him in a low voice, some- 
times uttering no word, only looking 
calmly into the high vault above as if 
the stars spoke to him and told him of 
perfect peace. 

'"When a man looks long at them,’’ 
he said, "he grows calm and forgets 
small things. They answer his ques- 
tions and show him that his earth is 
only one of the million worlds. Hold 
your soul still and look upward often, 
and you will understand their speech. 
Never forget the stars.” 




^att ^xvo 

S O, as the child King grew day by 
day, the world seemed to grow 
fuller and fuller of wonders and 
beauties. There were the sun and 
the moon, the storm and the stars, 
the straight falling lances of rain, the 
springing of the growing things, the 
flight of the eagle, the songs and nests 
of small bird creatures, the changing 
seasons, and the work of the great 
brown earth giving its harvest and its 
fruits. 

‘‘All these wonders in one world and 
you a man upon it,"’ said the Ancient 
One. “Hold high your head when you 
walk, young King, and often look 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

upward. Never forget one marvel 
among them all."’ 

He forgot nothing. He lived looking 
out on all things from great, clear, joy- 
ous eyes. Upon his mountain crag he 
never heard a paltry or unbeautiful 
word or knew of the existence of un- 
friendliness or baseness in thought. As 
soon as he was old enough to go out 
alone he roamed about the great moun- 
tain and feared neither storm nor wild 
beasts. Shaggy-maned lions and their 
mates drew near and fawned on him as 
their kind had fawned on young Adam 
in the Garden of Eden. There had 
never passed through his mind the 
thought that they were not his friends. 
He did not know that there were men 
who killed their wild brothers. 

In the huge courtyard of the castle 







THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

shone with joy. He spent the greater 
part of the morning in exercising and 
leaping him over barriers. The An- 
cient One in his tower chamber heard 
his shouts of exultation and encourage- 
ment. At last the King went out to 
try him on the winding mountain 
road. 

When he returned he went at once to 
the tower chamber to the Ancient One, 
who, when he raised his eyes from his 
great book, looked at him gravely. 

‘‘Let us climb to the battlements,’^ 
the boy said. “We must talk to- 
gether.” 

So they went, and when they stood 
looking out on the world below, the 
curving turquoise sky above them, the 
eyes of the Ancient One were still more 
grave. 







THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

clenched it and struck my horse again 
and again. I loved him no longer, I 
felt that he no longer loved me. I am 
hot and wearied and heavy from it still. 
I feel no more joy. Was it pain I 
felt? I have never felt pain and do 
not know. Was it pain ?” 

‘‘It was a worse thing,’’ answered the 
Ancient One. “It was anger. When 
a man is overcome by anger he has a 
poisoned fever. He loses his strength, 
he loses his power over himself and 
over others, he throws away time in 
which he might have gained the end 
he most desires. There is no time for 
anger in the world. 

So King Amor learned the useless- 
ness of anger, for they sat long upon 
the battlements while the Ancient One 
told him how its poison worked in the 




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THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

veins and weakened the strongest man 
until he was made a fool. That night 
Amor lay under the sky looking at his 
myriad brothers, the stars, and draw- 
ing calm from them. 

‘‘If you lie through the night upon 
the battlements and think only of the 
stillness and the stars you will forget 
your anger and its poison will die 
away. If you put into your mind a 
beautiful thought it will take the place 
of the evil one. There is no room for 
darkness in the mind of him who 
thinks only of the stars.” This had 
been said to him by the Ancient One. 

Upon the plateau at the foot of the 
crag on which the castle stood there 
were marvelous walled gardens. The 
sad young Queen of the first King 
Mordreth had planted them, and after 





THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

her death they had been left to run 
wild. Since the baby King Amor had 
been brought to the mountain top the 
Ancient One and his servitor had made 
them bloom again. As soon as he was 
old enough to hold a small spade Amor 
had worked in the beds. All things 
grew for him as if his touch were a spell ; 
birds and bees and butterflies flocked 
round him as he labored. He knew 
what the bees hummed and where they 
flew to load themselves with honey; 
butterflies lighted upon his hands and 
taught him strange things. Birds told 
him of their travels, and brought him 
seeds from far countries which he 
planted in his gardens and which 
bloomed into marvelous flowers. A 
swallow who loved him very much and 
who had seen many wonderful lands 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

the wretched dwellers in King Mor- 
dreth’s land forgot their quarrels and 
misery and even lifted their heavy 
heads to inhale it and ask each other 
what was being done upon the moun- 
tain. Each year King Amor gathered 
the seeds and stored them in an un- 
used tower of his castle. 

Taller and stronger he grew and each 
day wiser and more beautiful. Each 
plant, each weed, each four-footed 
thing, each wind, each star of heaven 
taught him its wonders and its wis- 
dom. His eyes were so marvelous 
in their straight-glanced splendor that 
when he looked at a man they seemed 
to read his soul and command its truth 
to answer him. He was so powerful 
that he could break an iron bar in two 
pieces with his hands. 




THE LAND OF fHE BLUE FLOWER 

When he was twenty years old the 
Ancient One took him up on the bat- 
tlements, and giving him a strong glass 
told him to look down upon the capital 
city on the plain and see what was being 
done there. 

‘‘I see many people gathered in 
crowds,"’ Amor said, when he had 
looked for a few moments. ‘‘I see 
bright colors and waving pennants and 
triumphal arches. It is as if some great 
ceremony were being prepared for.” 

‘‘The people are making ready for 
your coronation,” said the Ancient One. 
“To-morrow you will be led in state 
down the mountain and acclaimed 
King. It was to fit you to reign over 
your kingdom that I taught you to know 
all the wonders of the world and have 
shown you that no thing is useless but 



THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


folly and dishonoring thought. That 
which you have learned from your 
brothers here you go down the moun- 
tain to teach your brothers there. You 
will see things which are not beautiful 
and those which are unclean, but hold 
high your head when you walk, young 
King, and never forget the sun, the 
wind, and the stars.’^ 

To himself as he looked on him the 
Ancient One said: ‘‘When he stands 
before them they will think he is a 
young god.’’ 

The next morning a splendid pro- 
cession wound its glittering way up the 
mountain road to the castle. There 
were princes and nobles and chieftains. 
Rich colors glowed in their attire and 
gorgeous banners and pennants waved 
over them, while music from gold and 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

silver trumpets accompanied them as 
they rode and their many followers 
marched behind. 

The Ancient One in his long robe of 
gray stood by King Amor on the broad 
stone terrace guarded by its crouching 
carved lions. 

“This is your King, O people!’’ he 
said. 

And when the people looked it was 
as he had said it would be. They drew 
back a little and gazed in fear, and 
many of the followers fell upon their 
knees. They thought they saw a beau- 
tiful young giant and god. But he was 
only a splendid and powerful young 
man who had never known a dark 
thought and had lived near to his 
brothers the stars. His horse, adorned 
with golden trappings, was brought and 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

he was led down the mountain side, 
through the gates into the capital city 
of his kingdom. He desired that the 
Ancient One should ride by his side. 

What he saw as he rode to the place 
of coronation he had never seen before. 
Notwithstanding the embroidered silk 
and velvet hangings decorating the 
fronts of the rich people’s houses, he 
caught glimpses of filthy side streets, 
squalid alleys, and tumble-down tene- 
ments. He saw forlorn little children 
scud away like rats into their holes as he 
drew near, and wretched, vicious-look- 
ing men and women fighting with each 
other for places in the crowd. Sharp, 
miserable faces peered round corners 
at him, and nobody smiled because 
every one hated or distrusted his neigh- 
bor, and they dreaded and disliked the 

34 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

young King because all the King Mor- 
dreths had been evil and selfish, and he 
was their descendant. 

When they saw that he was so tall 
and powerful and carried his hand- 
some head so high, often looking up- 
ward, they feared him still more; as 
their own heads hung down they never 
saw anything but the dirt and dust be- 
neath their feet or the quarrels about 
them, so their minds were full of fears 
and ugly thoughts, and they at once 
began to be afraid of him and suspect 
him of being proud. He could do twice 
as much evil as the other Kings, they 
said, since he was twice as strong and 
twice as handsome. It was their na- 
ture to first think an evil thought of 
anything or anybody and to be afraid 
of ail things at the outset. 









i » ^ 




\ 


THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

The princes and nobles who rode in 
the procession tried to prevent King 
Amor seeing the wretched-looking 
people and ill-kept streets. They 
pointed out the palaces and decora- 
tions and beautiful ladies throwing 
flowers in his path from the balconies. 
He praised all the splendors and sa- 
luted the balconies, looking up with 
such radiant and smiling eyes that 
the ladies almost threw themselves 
after their flowers and cried out that 
never, never had there been crowned 
such a beautiful young King before. 

'‘Do not look at the rabble, your 
Majesty,” the Prime Minister said. 
"They are an evil, ill-tempered lot of 
worthless malcontents and thieves.” 

"I would not look at them,” an- 
swered King Amor, "if I knew that I 

36 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

could not help them. There is no time 
to look at dark things if one cannot 
make them brighter. I look at these 
because there is something to be done. 
I do not yet know what.’’ 

‘‘There is such hatred in their eyes 
that they will only make you angry, 
Sire,” said a handsome young prince 
who rode near. 

“There is no time for anger,” said 
Amor, holding his crowned head high. 
“It is a worthless thing.” 

After sunset there was a great ban- 
quet and after it a great ball, and the 
courtiers and princes were delighted by 
the beauty and grace of the new King. 
He was much brighter and more charm- 
ing than any of the King Mordreths 
had been. His laugh was full of 
gaiety and the people who stood near 

37 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

him felt happier, though they did not 
know why. 

But when the ball was at its height he 
stepped into the center of the room and 
spoke aloud to the splendid company. 

“I have seen the broad streets and 
the palaces and all that is beautiful in 
my capital,’’ he said. ‘‘Now I must go 
to the narrow streets and the dark ones. 
I must see the miserable people, the 
cripples, the wretched ones, the drunk- 
ards and the thieves.’ 

Every one clamored and protested. 
These things they had hidden from him; 
they said kings should not see them. 

“I will see them,” he said with a 
smile which was beautiful and strange. 
“I go now, on foot, and unattended ex- 
cept for my friend the Ancient One. 
Let the ball go on.” 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


He strode through the glittering 
throng with the gray-clad Ancient One 
at his side. He still wore his crown 
upon his head because he wished his 
people to know that their King had 
come to them. 

Through dark and loathsome places 
they went, through narrow streets and 
back alleys and courts, where people 
scurried away like rats as the gutter 
children had done in the daytime. 
King Amor could not have seen them 
but that he had brought with him a 
bright lantern and held it up in the air 
above his high head. The light shin- 
ing upon his beautiful face and his 
crown made him look more than ever 
'ike a young god and giant, and the 
people cowered terrified before him, 
asking each other what such a King 

39 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

would do to wretches like themselves. 
But just a few very little children 
smiled at him because he was so young 
and bright and splendid. No one in 
the black holes and corners could under- 
stand why a King should come walk- 
ing among them on the night of his 
coronation day. Most of them thought 
that the next morning he would order 
them all to be killed, and their houses 
burned, because he would only think of 
them as vermin. 

Once as he passed through a dark 
court a madman darted out in his path 
shaking his fist. 

“We hate you!’’ he cried out. “We 
hate you!” 

The dwellers in the court gasped 
with terror, wondering what would 
happen. But the tall young King 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

the night seemed to fill his soul, and 
when the stars began to fade he slept 
in rapturous peace. 

The people in his kingdom on the 
plain waited, wondering what he would 
do. During the next few days they 
quarreled and hated each other more 
than ever, the rich ones because they 
all wanted to gain his favor, and each 
was jealous of the other; the poor ones 
because they were afraid of him and 
each man feared that his neighbor 
would betray things he had done in the 
past. 

Only two boys working together in a 
field, having stopped to wrangle and 
fight, one of them suddenly stood still 
remembering something, and said a 
strange thing in a strange voice: 

‘‘There is no time for anger. There 





THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


IS no time. And as he fell to work 
again his companion did the same, and 
when they had finished their task of 
weeding they talked about the thing and 
remembered that when they had quar- 
reled the day before they had not fin- 
ished their task at all, and had not been 
paid, and had gone home sore from the 
blows they had given each other, and 
had had no supper. 

‘‘No, there is no time,’’ they de- 
cided. 



' 1 


/ 


i 



A t the beginning of the following 
^ week there were rumors that a 
strange law had been made — the 
strangest ever known in the world. It 
was something about a Blue Flower. 
What had flowers to do with laws, or 
what had laws to do with flowers? 
People quarreled about what the mean- 
ing of such a law might be. Those 
who thought first of evil things and 
fears began to say that in the rich 
people’s gardens was to be planted a 
Blue Flower whose perfume would 
poison all the poor. 

The only ones who did not quarrel 
were the two boys and their friends who 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

had already begun to make a sort of 
password of ‘‘There is no time for 
anger/’ One of them who was clever 
added a new idea to the saying. 

“There is no time for fear!” he cried 
out in the field. “Let us go on with 
our work.” And they finished their 
task early and played games. 

At last one morning it was made 
known that the new King was to give 
a feast in the open air to all the people. 
It was to be on the plain outside the 
city, and he himself was going to pro- 
claim to them the Law of the Blue 
Flower. 

“Now we shall know the worst,” 
growled and shivered the Afraid Ones 
as they shuffled their way to the plain, 
and the boys who used the password 
heard them. 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

‘‘There is no time to think of the 
worst!” shouted the clever one at the 
top of his voice. “There is no time. 
We shall be late for the feast.” 

And a number of people actually 
turned to listen because there was a 
high, strong, gay sound in his voice 
such as had never been heard in King 
Mordreth’s Land before. 

The plain was covered with thick 
green grass, and beautiful spreading 
trees grew on it. There was a richly 
draped platform for King Amor’s gold 
and ivory chair, but when the people 
gathered about he stood up before them, 
a beautiful young giant with eyes like 
fixed stars and head held high. And 
he read his law in a voice which, won- 
derful to relate, was heard by every 
man, woman, and child — even by the 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

little cripple crouching alone in the 
grass on the very outskirts of the crowd 
and not expecting to hear or see any- 
thing. 

This is what he read: 

‘‘In my pleasaunce on the mountain 
top there grows a Blue Flower. One of 
my brothers, the birds, brought me its 
seed from an Emperor’s hidden garden. 
It is as beautiful as the sky at dawn. 
It has a strange power. It dispels evil 
fortune and the dark thoughts which 
bring it. There is no time for dark 
thoughts — there is no time for evil. 
Listen to my Law. To-morrow seeds 
will be given to every man, woman, 
and child in my kingdom — even to the 
newborn. Every man, woman, and 
child — even the newborn — is com- 
manded by the law to plant and feed 









THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

and watch over the Blue Flower. It 
is the work of each to make it grow. 
The mother of the newborn can hold 
its little hand and make it drop the 
seeds into the earth. As the child 
grows she must show it the green shoots 
when they pierce the brown soil. She 
must babble to it of its Blue Flower. 
By the time it is pleased by color it will 
love the blossoms, and the spell of 
happiness and good fortune will begin 
to work for it. It is not one person here 
and there who must plant the flower, 
but each and every one. To those who 
have not land about them, all the land 
is free. You may plant by the road- 
side, in a cranny of a wall, in an old 
box or glass or tub, in any bare space 
in any man’s field or garden. But 
each must plant his seeds and watch 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


over and feed them. Next year when 
the Blue Flower blossoms I shall ride 
through my kingdom and bestow my 
rewards. This is my Law.^' 

‘‘What will befall if some of us do 
not make them grow ? groaned some 
of the Afraid Ones. 

“There is no time to think of that!’^ 
shouted the boy who was clever. “Plant 
them!’’ 


When the Prime Minister and his 
followers told the King that larger and 
stronger prisons must be built for the 
many criminals, and that heavier taxes 
must be laid upon the people to rescue 
the country from poverty, his answer 
to them was: “Wait until the blooming 
of the Blue Flower.” 

In a short time every one was work- 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

ing in the open air, digging in the soil 
— tiny children as well as men and 
women. Drunkards and thieves and 
idlers who had never worked before 
came out of their dark holes and cor- 
ners into the light of the sun. It was 
not a hard thing to plant a few flower 
seeds, and because the King Amor 
looked so much more powerful than 
other men, and had eyes so wonderful 
and commanding, they did not know 
what punishment he would invent for 
them and were afraid to disobey him. 
But somehow, after they had worked 
in the sweet-scented earth for a while 
and had seen others working, the light 
of the sun and the freshness of the 
air made them feel in better humor; 
the wind blew away their evil fancies 
and their headaches, and because there 




was so much talk and wondering about 
the magic of the Blue Flower they 
became interested, and wanted to see 
what it would do for them when it 
blossomed. Scarcely any of them had 
ever tried to make a flower grow 
before and they gradually thought of 
it a great deal. There was less quar- 
reling because conversation with neigh- 
bors all about a Blue Flower gave no 
reason for hard words. The worst and 
idlest were curious about it and. every 
one tried experiments of his own. 
The children were delighted and ac- 
tually grew happy and rosy over their 
digging and watering and care-taking. 
Gradually all sorts of curious things 
happened. People who were growing 
Blue Flowers began to keep the ground 
around about them in order. They 

54 





THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

did not like to see bits of paper and 
rubbish lying about, so they cleared 
them away. One quite new thing 
which occurred was that sometimes 
people even helped each other a little. 
Cripples and those who were weak 
actually found that there were stronger 
ones who would do things for them 
when their backs ached, and it was 
hard to carry water or dig up weedso 
No one in King Mordreth's Land had 
ever helped another before. 

The boy who was clever did more 
than all the rest. He gathered together 
all the children he could and formed 
them into a band using the passwords. 
In time it became quite like a little 
army. They called themselves The 
Band of the Blue Flower, and each boy 
and girl was bound to remember the 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

passwords and apply them to all they 
did. So, often, when a number of 
people were together and things began 
to go wrong, a clear young voice would 
cry out somewhere like a silver battle 
cry: 

There is no time for anger!’’ or 
There is no time for hate!” or ‘‘There 
is no time to fret! There is no time.” 

Among the great and rich people 
also singular things came to pass. 
Those who had wasted their days 
loitering or rioting were obliged to get 
up in the morning to work in their 
gardens, and finding that exercise and 
fresh air improved their health and 
spirits they began to like it. Court 
ladies found it good for their com- 
plexions and tempers; busy merchants 
discovered that it made their heads 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

tender green shoots thrust their way- 
through the earth! And the wave of 
excitement which passed over the whole 
land when the first buds showed them- 
selves. By that time every one was so 
interested that even the Afraid Ones 
had forgotten to ask each other what 
King Amor would do to them if they 
had no Blue Flower. Somehow, people 
had gained courage and they knew the 
Blue Flower would grow — and they 
knew there was no time to stop work- 
ing while they worried and said ‘‘Sup- 
pose it didn’t.’’ There was no time. 

Sometimes the young King was on 
the mountain top with the wind and the 
eagle and the stars, and sometimes he 
was in his palace in the city, but he was 
always working and thinking for his 
people. He was not seen by the people, 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

ing with Blue Flowers. Tumble-down 
houses and fences were covered with 
them because some of them climbed like 
vines; neglected fields and gardens had 
been made neat so that they would 
grow; rubbish and dirt had been cleaned 
away to make room for clumps and 
patches of them. You could not grow 
the Blue Flower among dirt and dis- 
order any more than you could grow it 
while you were spending your time in 
drinking and quarreling. By the road 
sides, in courts, in windows, in cracks, 
in walls, in broken places in roofs, in 
great people’s gardens, on the window 
sills, or about the doorways of poor 
people’s hovels — fair and fragrant and 
waving, grew the Blue Flower. Where 
it waved there was no room for dirt and 
rubbish, and suddenly even the dullest 







THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

people began to see that the face of the 
whole land was changed as if by some 
strange magic, and the whole popula- 
tion seemed changed with it. Every- 
body looked fresher and more cheerful, 
people had actually learned to smile and 
keep themselves clean, and there was 
not one who was not healthier. They 
had, in fact, been noticing this for 
some time, and they had said to each 
other that the power of the Blue Flower, 
of which the King had spoken, was 
beginning to work. The children had 
grown gay and rosy, and the boy who 
was clever and all his companions 
had found time to earn themselves 
new clothes, because they had never 
forgotten their passwords. All the 
farmers wanted them to work in their 
fi-lds because they said there was no 

6i 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

time to idle, no time to fight, no time 
to play evil tricks. 

On the King rode, and on and on 
and on, and the farther he went the 
more splendid and joyous his smile 
grew. 

But at no time during the day was it 
more beautiful than when he met the 
little cripple who had sat on the outside 
of the crowd on the first feast day, not 
expecting to see or hear anything. 

The cripple lived in a tiny hovel on 
the edge of the city, and when the 
glittering procession drew near it the 
small patch of garden was quite bare 
and had not a Blue Flower in it. And 
the little cripple was sitting huddled 
upon his broken door-step, sobbing 
softly with his face hidden in his arms. 

King Amor drew up his white horse 





“King Amor drew up his white horse.” 










THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

and looked at him and looked at his 
bare garden. 

‘‘What has happened here he said. 
^‘This garden has not been neglected. 
It has been dug and kept free of weeds, 
but my Law has been broken. There 
is no Blue Flower.’" 

Then the little cripple got up trem- 
bling and hobbled through his rickety 
gate and threw himself down upon the 
earth before the King’s white horse, 
sobbing hopelessly and heart-brokenly. 

“Oh King!” he cried. “I am only a 
cripple, and small, and I can easily be 
killed. I have no flowers at all. When 
I opened my package of seeds I was so 
glad that I forgot the wind was blowing, 
and suddenly a great gust carried them 
all away forever and I had not even 
one left. I was afraid to tell anybody.’ 

63 








THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

And then he cried so that he could not 
speak. 

“Go on,” said the young King gently. 
“What did you do?” 

“I could do nothing,” said the little 
cripple. “Only I made my garden 
neat and kept away the weeds. And 
sometimes I asked other people to let 
me dig a little for them. And always 
when I went out I picked up the ugly 
things I saw lying about — the bits of 
paper and rubbish — and I dug holes 
for them in the earth. But I have 
broken your Law.” 

Then the people gasped for breath, 
for King Amor dismounted from his 
horse and lifted the little cripple up in 
his arms and held him against his 
breast. 

“You shall ride with me to-day,” he 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

said, ‘‘and go to my castle on the moun- 
tain crag and live near the stars and the 
sun. When you kept the weeds from 
your bare little garden, and when you 
dug for others and hid away ugliness 
and disorder, you planted a Blue Flower 
every day. You have planted more 
than all the rest, and your reward shall 
be the sweetest, for you planted with- 
out the seeds.’’ 

And then the people shouted until 
the world seemed to ring with their joy, 
and somehow they knew that King 
Mordreth’s Land had come into fair 
days and they thought it was the Blue 
Flower magic. ^ 


“But the earth is full of magic,’" 
Amor said to the Ancient One, after 
the feast on the plain was over. “ Most 




THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 

men know nothing of it and so comes 
misery. The first law of the earth’s 
magic is this one. If you fill your mind 
with a beautiful thought there will be 
no room in it for an ugly one. This I 
learned from you and from my brothers 
the stars. So I gave my people the 
Blue Flower to think of and work for. 
It led them to see beauty and to work 
happily and filled the land with bloom. 
I, their King, am their brother, and 
soon they will understand this and I 
can help them, and all will be well. 
They shall be wise and joyous and 
know good fortune.” 

The little cripple lived near the sun 
and the stars in the castle on the moun- 
tain crag until he grew strong and 
straight. Then he was the King’s chief 
gardener. The boy who was clever was 









liwS 






THE LAND OF THE BLUE FLOWER 


made captain of his band, which be- 
came the King’s own guard and never 
left him. And the gloom of King 
Mordreth’s Land was forgotten, be- 
cause it was known throughout all the 
world as The Land of the Blue Flower. 


67 








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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing Agent; Magnesium Oxide 
T reatment Date: 



JUL 


1996 


bbrKeepe 


PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, 


1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Twp., PA 16066 
(412)779-2111 



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